SIGN-UP FOR WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENTS

How You Can Keep Tractor and Liftgate Batteries Balanced During Deliveries

It’s difficult to keep liftgate batteries charged when trucks make multiple stops within a short amount of time. Less run time and many lifts during the day make it difficult to keep liftgate batteries near a 100 percent state of charge.

In years past, fleets would idle tractors to keep liftgates operational, but high fuel costs and no-idle laws eliminate this option.

Fleets can balance tractor and liftgate batteries during short run times by extending charge time for liftgate batteries without pulling too much power from tractor batteries. For example, the TC-5 kit uses a control module to turn on and off the DC/DC converter.

The control module senses when the engine is off and continues to run the DC/DC converter for five minutes. The control module then tests the state of charge in the tractor batteries. If the batteries are at a good state of charge the TC-5 goes back to charging for another five minutes.

If the tractor batteries are low after the test it will turn off until the tractor’s engine is started again. The TC-5 can repeat this process for up to 1 hour. It saves batteries and keeps deliveries on time.